Despite storm damage, specialist optimistic about Georgia pecan crop

A University of Georgia Cooperative Extension pecan specialist is optimistic about Georgia’s pecan crop yields despite damage done by Tropical Storm Irma in early September.

According to a report on the extension website, http://extension.uga.edu/, Lenny Wells estimates yields ranging from 85 to 100 million pounds.

Wells said in the report that the pecan harvest season is taking place and Georgia farmers are taking advantage of dry weather and good prices. As a result, the pecan market softened in recent weeks, lowering some prices. Wells doesn’t expect the price to stay low for long.

“We often see this trend when the nuts really start rolling in every year. The last several years, the price bumped back up again after a couple of weeks as many growers started holding pecans. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this happen again,” Wells said in the report.

The crop’s development was ahead of schedule by about 10 days this year. All varieties are currently being harvested, and due to the early timing of nut maturity, Wells expects most of this year’s harvest to be completed by early December.

This story was originally published November 20, 2017 at 6:38 PM with the headline "Despite storm damage, specialist optimistic about Georgia pecan crop."